Strange disparities in medical training

(Dan Tri) - In the field of medical training, there is a strange difference in the rate of good and excellent students. The lower the entrance score, the higher the rate of good and excellent students and vice versa.

In many universities, it is not unusual for 70-90% of students to graduate with good or excellent grades. In this “wave”, there is also a large gap between schools, especially between medical schools.

In medical training, there is a paradox that the higher the entrance score, the fewer excellent and good students graduate. And conversely, in many places, the lower the entrance score, the higher the rate of excellent and good students graduating.

Students of Hanoi Medical University at the 2025 graduation ceremony (Photo: HMU).

Specifically, Hanoi Medical University is one of the largest medical training units in the country, attracting many excellent students with high entrance scores, among the top in the medical industry. However, all 722 new medical doctors graduating at the end of 2024 from the school did not have any students graduating with excellent grades.

The whole school has only 11.3% of medical students graduating with honors, students graduating with good grades account for nearly 70%; the rest are average or average graduates.

Previously, in the 2023 graduating class - the class with a record high entrance score at Hanoi Medical University of 29.25 points - not to mention excellent, a series of majors did not have excellent graduates such as nursing, public health , and ophthalmology.

Some majors only have 1 to 2 excellent graduates such as traditional medicine doctor, preventive medicine doctor, medical testing doctor, nutritionist...

Recently, the Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ho Chi Minh City awarded graduation certificates for the 2019-2025 school year to 388 new medical doctors with a graduation rate of 97.92%. Of these, only 2 students graduated with honors (0.55%), with honors accounting for 18.28%.

In the 2024 graduation of 366 new doctors of the Faculty of Medicine of this school, there are only 3 excellent students (accounting for 0.84%), the rate of excellent graduates is 18.77%.

Similarly, the number of excellent and good graduates at Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine is a small number of the total number of graduates.

During the graduation ceremony for 1,254 new doctors, pharmacists, and bachelors of this school at the end of 2024, only one student graduated with honors, and 68 students achieved good grades.

Among more than a thousand students graduating at the end of 2024 from Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine, there is only one student with excellent grades (Photo: NT).

In the first graduation ceremony of 2024 of the Faculty of Medicine (now the University of Health Sciences , Ho Chi Minh National University), 132 students graduated with no excellent students, the number of good graduates was only over 6%. Of the 187 students graduating from both majors (Medicine and Pharmacy) at this unit, only 10.7% graduated with excellent degrees.

It is clear that in most long-standing medical schools with high entrance scores, there are very few, if any, students who graduate with honors or distinction.

Low input, high output

This is completely opposite to the picture at many new private educational institutions participating in medical training: low entrance scores but the output is "overwhelmed" with excellent and good students.

Every year, the admission score for medical majors in many schools is only equal to or slightly higher than the required minimum score of the Ministry of Education and Training, but upon graduation, the percentage of students with good and excellent grades is very high.

Typically, at Duy Tan University, according to the 3rd public report of the 2023-2024 school year, the number of students in the VI major (including Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, Dentistry) graduating with honors accounted for 5.08%, with good grades accounted for 21.95%, and with good grades accounted for 62.69%.

During the graduation ceremony of the Faculty of Dentistry at the School of Medicine, Duy Tan University at the end of 2024, there were 14 students with excellent grades (23%) and 37 students with good grades (62%) out of a total of 60 graduates. Only 9 students graduating from the Faculty of Dentistry at this university were ranked below excellent.

This is the class of students admitted in 2018 with a standard score of only 19.

In the mid-year graduation ceremony of 2024 of Hong Bang International University with more than 1,500 doctors, pharmacists, engineers, architects, bachelors, the percentage of students graduating with good or above was 93%, of which nearly 40% achieved good and excellent grades.

Of the 391 new doctors and pharmacists of this school receiving their diplomas, 80 new doctors and pharmacists were recognized as excellent and good.

The rate of graduation with honors and distinctions varies greatly among medical schools (Illustration: Hoai Nam).

Data from Dai Nam University in 2024 also showed that block VI had 433 graduates, including 1 excellent student; 40 excellent students, and 188 good students.

Explaining the scarcity of good and excellent students at top medical schools, the leader of a public university said that currently, long-standing top medical schools are the few schools that are "immune" to the inflation of good and excellent degrees.

This stems from the fact that it is very difficult for medical students to achieve good or excellent results. Assessment at these schools focuses more on working ability than on grades.

In addition, the assessment requires many factors, in addition to knowledge, there are also a series of practical skills, professionalism, attitude, professional capacity... so it is not easy for students to achieve the maximum level.

In addition, these schools train in specialized fields, not in competition, so they "sit still" in the market full of good and excellent degrees. Even if students here do not have good or excellent degrees, when they graduate, they are still highly appreciated by society for their capacity and professional skills.

As for medical schools with lower entrance requirements but "skyrocketing" output, this person said it was "not strange", part of the current trend of excellent and talented graduates that is increasingly overwhelming.

It is possible that the way of learning at school develops the students' abilities; the way of assessment and evaluation of the school creates conditions for students to achieve good results. And it is also possible that the school is "loose" in giving grades, wanting students to have a good degree when graduating, building the school's brand...

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/chenh-lech-ky-la-trong-dao-tao-y-khoa-20251001152332489.htm